The Monroe County commissioners approved several items and announced that Aug. 31 was International Overdose Awareness Day during their meeting on Wednesday.

Commissioner David Parker, vice chairman, said that September is National Recovery Month.

“We just kicked it off on Saturday with the program at the Wesleyan Church, and the commissioners are sponsoring Chris Herren to come to our community next week,” Parker said. “We’re using Opioid Settlement money for that.”

Herren was a basketball All-American who broke scoring records and was recruited by the nation’s top colleges. He was recruited by the Denver Nuggets and traded to his hometown team, the Boston Celtics. Because of his addictions, Herren lost his career and almost his family to the disease.

“He has a great impact on audiences,” Parker said. “He’ll speak at all our local high schools next week and also ESU and then we have a community event that I would encourage everyone to attend.”

This free community event will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the African Ballroom at Kalahari Resort and Convention Center, 250 Kalahari Blvd., Pocono Manor.

The commissioners also announced the sale of surplus furniture from 8:30 to 10 a.m. on Oct. 11 at the warehouse at 246 Lackawanna Ave., East Stroudsburg. It is cash only.

Commissioner Sharon Laverdure said, “I highly recommend if you like used furniture, kinds of things, there’s some really unique stuff there, so you may want to check it out.”

Laverdure also commented about the importance of foster care. The commissioners approved several service agreements for Monroe County Children and Youth Services. The service agreements are from July 1 to June 30, 2025 with the following:

• Children’s Home of Easton Inc., $325,000 for foster care;

• Family Care for Children and Youth Inc., $85,000 for specialized and emergency foster care;

• National Mentor Healthcare LLC dba Pennsylvania Mentor, $275,000 for foster care and respite services;

• George Junior Republic in Pennsylvania, $725,000 for diagnostic services and group homes, and;

• Diakon Child, Family and Community Services, $75,000 for foster care.

“What this is showing us is there’s such a need for foster care in Monroe County,” Laverdure said. “You’ll see signs every so often as well to contact Children and Youth. Being an educator for so many years, the foster care homes are unbelievable and really are very important for the people in Monroe County, so think about it.”

The commissioners also approved capital outlay purchases dated Aug. 15 totaling $828.

Commissioner John Christy, chairman, said, “What does that $828 get you? It gets your refrigerator for the courts and domestic relations from the courthouse bond.”

And they approved computer capital purchases dated Aug. 20 totaling $4,531.26.

“For those wondering what you get. You get three cameras for voter registration and that’s paid for by the EIG GP grant,” Christy said.

Christy explained that the cameras are for the garage.

“When we had our Homeland Security walk through, they suggested that we have additional cameras on the outside of our storage area that goes into where all our stuff is stored, so that’s the three cameras,” he said.

The commissioners also explained and approved some budget adjustments.

• Ratify the Budget Adjustment Report dated Aug. 15 totaling $64,138: 63% of this is for Children and Youth for about $40,456 for invoices from June 30; countywide telephone expenses for Frontier Infrastructure upgrades in the amount of $23,337; and $305 for a refrigerator for pretrial, and;

• Approve the Budget Adjustment Report dated Aug. 30 totaling $235,163: 41% is for the Public Defender’s Office for the Indigent Defense Program Grant; 37% is for Voter Registration to adjust grant expenses; 21% for courthouse expansion bond; and $2,000 for supplies for the magisterial district offices.